TRACKING SYSTEM IS MAKING ITS MARK IN COUNTY WAR ON GRAFFITI

• It found that three-quarters of the graffiti in the region is described as tagging, as opposed to gang-related.

• The cost of removing the graffiti, which was scrawled across almost 619,000 square feet, is conservatively estimated at almost $16 million.

• The number of adults prosecuted for graffiti by the district attorney or city attorney increased by 33 percent but, oddly, the number of juvenile cases decreased by 21 percent. Barr said he thinks that’s because officers are concentrating recently on the most prolific taggers rather than going after individual cases. But despite the fact that fewer graffiti cases were prosecuted in 2011 than 2010 overall, court-ordered restitution for those cases increased dramatically, from about $171,000 in 2010 to more than $783,000 in 2011.